Egypt

Development and Climate Change Project

Initiated by the Development Co-operation and the Environment Directorates in 2002, this joint project explores possible synergies as well as trade-offs in "mainstreaming" climate change responses in development co-operation projects, development plans and activities. The focus is on links between climate change, natural resource management and economic development plans in developing countries.

New Releases:

Stocktaking of Progress on Integrating Adaptation to Climate Change into Development Co-operation Activities (Sep 2007)
Factoring climate concerns into development projects is a pressing need for aid recipients and a sound strategy for international donors. This report surveys 26 bilateral and 10 multilateral donors to track trends and highlight innovative approaches used by them to incorporate climate risks into their activities. The report concludes that international donors have made significant progress in recognizing the importance of climate risks in their development co-operation policies. Translating such concerns into operational practices, however, remains a difficult challenge.

The paper outlines key issues for investigation in the project and sets out a scope and approach for the case studies. A three-tier framework is proposed for each of the case studies that examines:

(i) the national demographic and economic context, as well as key climate change impacts and vulnerabilities;
(ii) connections between climate change, national economic development plans and development assistance portfolios;
(iii) in-depth thematic or project level analyses that explore linkages between climate change adaptation and natural resource management through specific themes such as coastal zone, watershed, land use and forest management activities.

In the area of land use and forest management, the analyses could also cover costs and benefits of integrating mitigation measures such as carbon sequestration in development planning.

This informal expert meeting, held 13-14 March in Paris, combined experts from both the climate policy (largely adaptation experts) and the development policy communities. Participants from developing and developed countries, and from relevant inter-governmental organisations, covered a range of questions, including the value-added of OECD contributions on development and climate; adaptation financing issues; scope, structure and criteria for possible case studies.

Further inquiries about ongoing work in the OECD on development and climate change may be directed to: